NBA Teams – Page 541 – NBA Blog

Hornets begin stretch of home games

A post shared by Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) on Nov 28, 2017 at 12:15pm PST

The Hornets are just 8-13 so far this season, which is the 12th best record in the Eastern conference. The upcoming week will provide an interesting variety tests at home which may help determine which direction they’re headed. Here’s the Charlotte Observer reporting the latest:

This is a big week for the Hornets, with four consecutive home games (Magic, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers) over six days. The Hornets have been terrible on the road this season (1-10), but are 7-3 at Spectrum Center.

Ten of the Hornets’ next 13 games are in Charlotte. What has to change to get this team right?

“We’ve got to change our approach. We have to have carryover from (what’s instructed in) shootarounds to the games,” Walker said. “Coach (Steve Clifford) and the staff give us a great game plan each and every night to execute, and we haven’t been doing that.

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Cavs and Derrick Rose discuss future

It remains unclear if Derrick Rose will return to the Cavs. A guess is, he probably will. But nobody can make an educated guess on this. Only Rose knows if he wants to continue playing pro basketball, and also earning massive sneaker contract money in the process. Here’s ESPN.com reporting the latest:

Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue on Saturday said there has been positive dialogue between Derrick Rose and the organization, as Rose continues to ponder his future in the NBA.

Speaking before Cleveland’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Lue did not want to delve into further details about the recent communication between parties, directing media members to speak with Cavs general manager Koby Altman.

When asked about Lue’s comments, Altman, who was attending Saturday’s game, affirmed that the dialogue with Rose and his representatives has been positive, acknowledging there would likely be another update regarding his status in the near future.

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Kevin Love deserves major credit for Cavs success

The Cavs started slowly this season, figured out how to play together despite a bunch of injuries, and now look about as good as could be expected considering they are still without new point guard Isaiah Thomas. Everyone knows LeBron James is still himself, and therefore awesome, but Kevin Love is the very next name that needs to be mentioned. Here’s the News Herald reporting:

Kevin Love should feel like the guy who is often nominated for Best Supporting Actor but never wins the Oscar.

Love has played almost as big a part in the Cavaliers’ 10-game winning streak as LeBron James, but outside the Cavs’ organization, he rarely gets the credit he deserves for the contributions he makes. That goes back to 2016 when the Cavs won their only NBA championship.

When the Cavaliers lost to Golden State in the 2017 Finals, the rumor mill quickly started churning out the notion of trading Love to the New York Knicks for Carmelo Anthony. He was also linked to a trade to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George.

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Austin Rivers fined by NBA

Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers has been fined $25,000 for directing inappropriate comments toward a fan, it was announced today by Kiki VanDeWeghe, Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 3:14 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 126-107 loss to the Utah Jazz on Thursday, Nov. 30 at Staples Center.

Iman Shumpert undergoes knee surgery

Cavaliers guard Iman Shumpert underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee this morning at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health. The surgery was performed by team physicians Dr. Richard Parker and Dr. James Rosneck. Shumpert will now undergo a period of recovery and rehabilitation and his return to play timeline is currently projected at 6-8 weeks. His status will be updated as appropriate.

Notes on Detroit Pistons success this season

Detroit (14-6) is off to its best 20-game start since the 2007-08 season. Here are some notes about the current No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference entering Friday’s game against Washington:

The Pistons rank seventh in the NBA in offensive rating after finishing 25th last season.

Leading scorer Tobias Harris (19.1 ppg) is averaging 2.9 three-pointers per game – more than double his career high – and shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the arc, also well above his career high. He was a career 33.2 percent three-point shooter when the season began.

Behind Harris and guards Avery Bradley, Langston Galloway and Reggie Jackson, the Pistons are third in the NBA in three-point field goal accuracy at 39.1 percent. Last season, they ranked 28th at 33.0 percent.

Detroit is also making nearly four more three-pointers per game than last season, improving to ninth (11.4) from 27th (7.7) in that category.

NBA rebounding leader Andre Drummond (14.3 ppg, 15.2 rpg) is shooting 63.0 percent from the free throw line. He entered the season with a career mark of 38.1 percent.

Stan Van Gundy needs two wins to become the sixth active head coach with 500 career victories.

— NBA Newsletter

Hassan Whiteside out with knee injury

The Miami HEAT announced today that center Hassan Whiteside will begin rehab immediately due to a left knee bone bruise. The rehab process will include a strength and conditioning program over the next one-to-two weeks.

Whiteside has appeared in 15 games this season averaging 14.9 points, 12.7 rebounds, 1.60 blocks, 1.07 steals and 26.8 minutes while shooting 58.1 percent from the field. Among league leaders, he ranks third in rebounding average and tied for ninth in blocks per game.

Terrence Ross out with multiple injuries

After further evaluation, including an MRI, Orlando Magic guard/forward Terrence Ross has been diagnosed with a sprained right medial collateral ligament (MCL) and a non-displaced fracture of his right tibial plateau, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced. Ross suffered the injury at the 4:38 mark of the second quarter during last night’s victory over Oklahoma City.

He will be out indefinitely and miss a significant amount of time. His return to play will depend on how the injury heals and how he responds to treatment.

Ross (6’7”, 206, 2/5/91) has played in all 22 games this season for Orlando (20 starts), averaging 9.0 ppg., 3.2 rpg., 1.6 apg. and 1.23 stlpg. in 26.2 minpg. He has scored in double figures nine times and had 20+ points once, including a season-high 22 points on Nov. 22 @ Minnesota.

Joe Johnson injury update

The following is a team medical update on Jazz forward Joe Johnson:

Johnson re-consulted with a hand specialist on Tuesday and is showing progress to make a return. He will be reevaluated in two weeks. Further updates will be provided when appropriate.

Now in his 17th season, Johnson (6-7, 240, Arkansas) has appeared in seven games averaging 6.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 19.2 minutes per contest.

Nikola Mirotic accepts apology from Bobby Portis

Teammates often get into it with each other during practices, but rarely are serious punches thrown, and even rarer do those punches actually land. But that’s what went down in Bulls practice earlier this season. Here’s ESPN Chicago with an update:

Nikola Mirotic says he has accepted Bobby Portis’ apology and is hoping both he and the Bulls can move forward after a practice altercation between the pair last month. Speaking for the first time since an Oct. 17 fight with Portis that left Mirotic with multiple facial fractures and a concussion, the veteran forward made it clear that he feels he can coexist with Portis again in the future.

“We are teammates,” Mirotic said after Wednesday’s practice. “We are on the same team. Obviously we are fighting for this team. We both are going to do what we need to do to make it work. Yeah, I did accept his apology.”

Mirotic said he did not want to address events in the past and did not directly answer a question regarding whether the pair has actually sat down and spoken. When asked if Portis knew that he had accepted his apology, Mirotic responded that he would eventually.

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